Chapter 231: Eyes That Belong to Destiny
Kakuzu, catching every word of Sasuke's exchange with the others, nearly coughed up blood on the spot. His gaze drifted toward a massive tree in the distance, now toppled and burning.
That tree had been struck by his own Fire Release attack. And when it fell, dozens of bird nests had come crashing down with it — many still holding eggs.
Clearly, this had been a tree beloved by every bird for miles around.
No...
No...
Something's wrong!
Only now did Kakuzu register it. Ever since the moment that Uchiha brat's Mangekyō had activated, an inexplicable sense of wrongness had been gnawing at him.
It felt as though the entire world had turned against him personally.
"Kid, YOU—"
Kakuzu didn't get the chance to finish, because two figures had already surged back into the fray.
Asuma! Hayate!
"You two — my former punching bags, coming back for MORE?!"
Kakuzu snarled, preparing to counterattack.
But at that exact moment, the sky darkened without warning. Storm clouds churned overhead, thunder rumbling — and in the blink of an eye, a bolt of lightning crashed down, striking a tree standing directly beside Kakuzu!
The tree began toppling — directly toward Kakuzu.
He had no choice but to retreat, seething with frustration.
Meanwhile, Sasuke's black-and-crimson Mangekyō continued its slow, steady spin, radiating an eerie, ominous ocular power...
"Mei, take Kushina and deal with Hidan. He's a taijutsu specialist — your Water Release and her Adamantine Sealing Chains will pin him down effectively. We'll come help once Kakuzu's dealt with."
Kakashi drew the White Fang short sword from his back, preparing to engage.
"Huh?"
"Are you looking down on me?"
Mei glanced up at the sky, already darkening with rain.
In weather like this, her Water Release would only grow stronger.
"Just listen."
Kakashi tossed off the comment, then exchanged a glance with Guy. Both men nodded in perfect wordless understanding.
Everything unspoken, yet perfectly clear between them.
Wind Release howled around Kakashi's body, a keen edge of intent surging outward.
Meanwhile, Guy had already crossed both arms before his chest.
Eight Gates!
The Sixth Gate!
The Gate of View!
OPEN!
Green chakra flames ignited around Guy's entire form!
"Kakashi!"
Guy called out.
"Let's go!"
Kakashi answered, and both men shot forward like arrows loosed from a bow, straight at Kakuzu!
Mei watched Kakashi and Guy fighting in such flawless coordination and felt her mouth twitch slightly.
Something about those two's relationship feels... not entirely normal.
"Sasuke, rest up for a bit. Mei and I will handle Hidan."
Kushina cracked her knuckles, brimming with determination.
"Sister Mei!"
"Ikazuchi!"
Watching Kushina's eager enthusiasm, Mei nodded, resigned.
Well. Guess this is how it's going to be.
"Everyone, fall back!"
The moment Mei and Kushina entered the fray, they ordered the surrounding shinobi encircling Hidan to withdraw.
Hidan, meanwhile, was already thoroughly fed up.
He'd managed to draw blood — plenty of it, in fact, from more than one person. But every single time he tried to complete the ritual circle, some Earth Release shinobi would smash it apart, or a Water Release user would simply wash the whole thing clean off the ground.
Damned Konoha shinobi. That blood was MINE!
Have they no respect for a man's hard work?!
At Mei's command, the surrounding shinobi retreated entirely.
"What, switching opponents now?"
Hidan eyed the two women before him warily.
At that moment, the heavens opened up, rain pouring down, washing over everything.
Hidan spat in disgust.
This miserable weather meant his ritual circle was now completely out of the question.
At the same moment, Mei and Kushina formed hand seals in perfect unison, chakra surging within them.
"Water Release — Great Bursting Water Shockwave!"
!!!
As both women unleashed their technique, Hidan stared blankly at the sight before him, his blood-moon triple scythe slipping from his grip and clattering to the ground.
The silver-haired man muttered under his breath:
"What... the hell is THAT supposed to be?"
A tsunami!
An actual tsunami!
Fifty meters tall, rising straight up from the earth!
Heaven's timing — heavy rain, falling from above.
Earth's advantage — fighting on home soil, in the Land of Fire.
And human unity — both Mei and Kushina, master practitioners of Water Release, working as one.
Kushina's own terrifying chakra reserves found perfect, unrestrained release in this single moment!
And every bit of it was being watched by that spinning pair of Mangekyō eyes...
Ever since reinforcements had arrived, and with everyone now fighting alongside him on the same side, Sasuke considered them all teammates — meaning his lucky Amatsukami had extended its blanket of good fortune across the entire battlefield.
His teammates' luck was his luck too...
Konoha
A sharp hawk's cry echoed high above the village, drawing more than a few upturned faces.
Urgent intelligence...
The ninja hawk streaked through the sky like an arrow, diving straight toward the Hokage Building, landing on Sakura's shoulder where she stood by the window.
Sakura, well-practiced by now, pulled the message tube from the hawk's leg and read the note within. Her lips curved into a smile.
Kakuzu eliminated. Hidan captured.
"Faster than expected."
Sakura murmured to herself, genuinely pleased with Kakashi and the others' performance.
Understandable, given the squad she'd assembled — Guy, Kakashi, Asuma, Mei, Sasuke, Kushina, Hayate. Every single one a genuine powerhouse.
Two of them alone would go on to become Kage in their own right.
Not to mention Guy.
The hawk gave a gentle flap of its wings, unwilling to leave.
Whenever it delivered messages, Pinky usually rewarded it with jerky.
Hadn't gotten any yet today~~~
Watching the hawk circle expectantly at the window, Sakura shot it a flat look.
Such a greedy little thing.
She pulled her beef jerky from a nearby drawer, tore open the packaging, and tossed the entire batch to the hawk.
The hawk snatched a piece in each talon and clamped one more in its beak, then flew off entirely satisfied.
Watching it go, Sakura prepared to head out — intending to leave Konoha and personally check on the Terracotta Army situation.
After all, with a hundred thousand of them marching around, having the Hokage personally present would give no one grounds for complaint.
But at that moment, a figure pushed the door open, and seeing Sakura preparing to leave, frowned slightly.
"Sakura!"
Homura regarded Pinky with obvious displeasure.
Where does she think she's going NOW?
"Erm, Elder Homura, something wrong?"
Sakura answered with total confidence, not a shred of guilt in sight. After all, she genuinely had legitimate business this time.
Surely the old man couldn't object to that.
"Where exactly are you headed?"
Homura's brow furrowed, tone tinged with suspicion.
Last time, this pinky had pulled a full vanishing act less than two months into her tenure as Hokage, nearly giving the old man a heart attack.
Was she planning to run off again NOW?!
"I'm going to check... monitor the Terracotta Army situation."
"You can't possibly object to that, can you?"
Sakura spoke with total conviction.
"Emm..."
"Before you go — I should mention the delegation from Iwagakure has arrived."
Homura's words made Sakura's brow arch.
"Who's here?"
She asked.
"The Tsuchikage's granddaughter, Kurotsuchi. And his student, Akatsuchi."
This made Sakura frown slightly.
Just Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi? Wasn't the Tsuchikage worried about his own beloved granddaughter running into trouble along the way?
"And Ōnoki himself."
Sakura: ...
"Elder Homura, could you maybe just say the whole thing at once next time? Instead of drip-feeding it?"
Homura chuckled, unbothered. He'd simply felt like teasing Pinky a little.
Still, with Ōnoki himself in attendance, everything now made sense.
Ōnoki, as the Third Tsuchikage himself, arriving personally spoke volumes.
Ōnoki. Kurotsuchi. Akatsuchi.
Essentially Ōnoki's own inner circle — which said plenty about how seriously the old Tsuchikage regarded Deidara's fate.
"Fine. Have them wait in the conference room. I'll head over shortly."
As Homura departed, Sakura didn't immediately make her way to the conference room. Instead, she took a leisurely stroll through Konoha's streets first.
Right now, Iwagakure's loyalty toward Konoha was distinctly noncommittal — practically flaunting their readiness to switch sides at the first opportunity.
If they arrived and Sakura went rushing straight over to meet them, that would make her look far too eager.
Sure, she needed Iwagakure's secret techniques — but Iwagakure needed Deidara even more.
The village desperately required him to fill their generational gap.
Kurotsuchi was undeniably talented, but relying on her alone to uphold Iwagakure's standing as one of the Five Great Villages simply wasn't realistic.
Especially now that Konoha, Suna, Kiri, and Kumo had all entered their Fifth Kage era, while Iwagakure remained under the leadership of the aging Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, still soldiering on alone.
So while Sakura might be eager, they were even more so.
"Boss, two skewers, please."
Without quite meaning to, Sakura found herself in front of a street food stall.
"Coming right up!"
The moment the vendor spotted the Hokage in person, he sprang into enthusiastic action.
Before long, two grilled sausage skewers were handed to Sakura. She took a bite, and her eyes brightened slightly.
"Not bad. Really good, actually!"
As a self-proclaimed food connoisseur, Sakura's palate was famously (?) discerning.
"Thank you for the kind words, Lady Hokage!"
The vendor beamed with delight at the praise.
Once Sakura had paid and left, the vendor rubbed his chin thoughtfully, eyes gleaming, and dug up a wooden board and a marker from some corner of his stall, writing on it:
Matsui's Famous Fried Skewers — Even the Hokage Says They're Great!
Satisfied, he hung the board proudly at the front of his stall.
Tossing the empty skewer sticks into a nearby trash bin, Sakura found herself, without quite realizing it, walking through a familiar park.
Taking in the scenery, her thoughts drifted immediately to Uchiha Hikaru.
This was the very spot where she'd once dozed off against her shoulder.
"Sakura!"
Speak of the devil.
A rush of wind, and a purple-haired figure launched itself straight at her.
"Oof — Ino."
Sakura's entire face buried itself in something soft and fragrant, the impact sending her stumbling back several steps.
Impressive. Genuinely knocked me off balance.
"Sakura, ever since you became Hokage, you barely come see me anymore!"
Ino's delight at spotting Sakura quickly gave way to a wave of theatrical hurt.
"Ah, well, I've been busy..."
Sakura's mouth twitched, watching Ino's tear-brimmed performance.
Total act...
They'd known each other for years. Did Sakura not know Ino's personality by now?
But even knowing it was an act, Sakura couldn't simply call it out — better to soothe her properly, or risk making the fake tears real.
"Sakura, using excuses now?!"
Seeing Sakura try to deflect responsibility, Ino's irritation flared genuinely.
She'd done her research, after all!
Right now, Sakura spent her days in the office reading, skipping work, and eating snacks!
Not a shred of "busy" in sight!
Did she really think such a transparent excuse would fool the Yamanaka heiress?
"Yeah, yeah, fine, I was wrong, happy now?"
Sakura conceded defeat, resigned.
"Wrong about WHAT?!"
"You didn't do anything wrong! I'M the one who's wrong~~~"
"After all, I'm just a weak little woman. Of course the Hokage has no time for someone like me~~~"
"I'll just go now, sniff sniff~~~"
"So as not to trouble the esteemed Hokage any further~~~"
Sakura: ...
By the time Sakura had finally soothed Ino, the sky had already dimmed considerably. If she hadn't genuinely had business to attend to, it would've taken far longer to smooth things over.
Composing herself, Sakura pushed open the door to the Hokage's conference room and stepped inside.
The room was mostly empty, save for Ōnoki, Kurotsuchi, and Akatsuchi.
Kurotsuchi's expression was distinctly displeased as she looked at Sakura.
Damn it — we got here this afternoon!
And now it's practically evening before this pinky finally shows up!
I've had three full pots of tea already! I'm practically bloated!
Every staff member we asked just brushed us off with "Lady Hokage is busy"!
Busy with WHAT, exactly? More important than THEIR ally?!
To be fair, Kurotsuchi had somewhat misjudged the situation — Sakura genuinely had been busy. Just busy consoling Ino.
"Lady Hokage. It's been a long time."
"Who would have imagined that the next time we'd meet, you'd already be the Fifth Hokage."
"Truly, it gives one pause."
Ōnoki rose to his feet first, his weathered, honest face breaking into a warm smile.
Not a trace of irritation visible, despite having been left waiting the better part of the day.
"Indeed. It has been a while."
The Hokage spoke evenly, taking a seat opposite the three Iwa representatives without ceremony.
"Ahaha, indeed, indeed. Thinking back three years ago, you dominated the battlefields of the Land of Frost, the Land of Rivers, and the Land of Whirlpools without equal. Unfortunately, I myself was occupied defending against enemy forces in the Land of Demons and missed the chance to witness it firsthand — a genuine regret of my lifetime."
Ōnoki showed not the slightest concern over the Hokage's cool demeanor, as though he hadn't even registered it.
He'd already anticipated exactly this reception before setting out. With Konoha's power at its current peak and Iwagakure's own allegiance wavering, this kind of cool treatment was only to be expected.
"Would you like to?"
Suddenly, the Hokage's lips curved into a smile, her emerald eyes carrying a glint of amusement as she regarded the old man.
"Ahaha, Lady Hokage jests."
A bead of cold sweat trickled down Ōnoki's temple.
Witness her true strength? Where, exactly?
Under what circumstances?
In what kind of situation?
The Land of Earth currently survived on grain imports from the Land of Fire — precisely one of the reasons Iwagakure's allegiance remained so uncertain.
The war three years ago had cost Iwagakure remarkably little. In fact, thanks to this Hokage single-handedly crushing enemy commanders and sweeping through the combined forces of Wind, Lightning, and Water, laying the foundation for victory, Iwagakure had actually profited handsomely at Sunagakure's expense in the aftermath.
If he genuinely wanted to witness this Hokage's true strength again, given the current state of affairs, there was really only one place that could possibly happen:
On a battlefield between Iwagakure and Konoha themselves.
☆☆☆
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